The Twins had an 85-77 record last season and made the AL Wild Card game, falling to the New York Yankees, but dropped off to 78-84 and a distant second behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central in 2018.

Molitor, 62, had two years remaining on his contract. The St. Paul native, a Hall of Famer as a player, went 305-343 (.471) in his four years in Minnesota in his first managerial job.

Falvey and general manager Thad Levine inherited Molitor when they took charge two years ago but will now get to pick their own manager.